With the April 20th deadline fast approaching, we hope all you members have been thinking of nominations for this year’s WNBA Award. We’ve mentioned some previous winners, and now we want to tell you about them!

Kathi Kamen Goldmark is an author, president of Don’t Quit Your Day Job Records, and a former teacher. She is perhaps most famous for founding and performing with The Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band made of authors Mitch Albom, Amy Tan, Stephen King, and more. She won the WNBA Award in 2008. You can read more about her here.

Perri Klass is a pediatrician, writer, and professor. She is also the Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, which is a nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms across the nation. She won the WNBA Award in 2006. You can find out more information about her books here or read about her here.

Nancy Pearl is a former librarian and bookseller, and a current radio and television personality. She is well known for her book recommendations and speaks for her love of books across the country. She won the WNBA Award in 2004. You can read more about her here.

Remember, nomination forms can be downloaded here under the Members Only tab and emailed to nancy.stewart@ingramcontent.com. Only members can fill out a nomination form, but anyone can be nominated – it doesn’t have to be a member!

The Women’s National Book Association sponsors several prestigious awards through our national organization.

The WNBA Award is presented by the members of the Women’s National Book Association to “a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books and allied arts, and who has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation.”

Given annually, the WNBA Eastman Grant is a cash grant given to a library association in a state where there is a WNBA chapter. The funds are given to support librarian professional development or training offered by an official library association.

The WNBA Pannell Award recognizes and publicly applauds the work of booksellers who stimulate, promote and encourage children’s and young people’s interest in books. It is presented each year at Book Expo America.

For more information about these awards and our national organization, go check out the website.

For those readers who are new to the Women’s National Book Association, here’s a little history:

In October of 1917, fifteen women booksellers, who had been excluded from the all-male Bookseller’s League and from attending the league’s annual convention, met in Sherwood’s Book Store at 19 John Street in downtown New York. They met again on November 13 of that year with thirty-five women present and formed a permanent organization, the Women’s National Book Association (the original WNBA!), electing its first president, Pauline Sherwood. WNBA’s unique characteristic was a membership open to women in all facets of the world of books—publishers, booksellers, librarians, authors, illustrators, agents, book production people—the only criterion being that part of their income must come from books.

Today, our organization remains vibrant, with over 800 members in 10 chapters around the United States. For more about our history, check out the New York Chapter website.